Time and Space 06
This is Chapter 6: We are Sent to Hunt Statues in Miramc22's fan fiction, Time and Space. ---- "Lizzie Carter, meet 1330 B.C.E.," the Doctor said, gesturing around us with one hand as we stepped out of the TARDIS. The other hand was in mine, squeezing it for reassurance. I couldn't explain the thrill I felt: it was welled up inside of me, like it had always been there, and it was ready to burst. "You're crazy," was all I could manage to say. "I'm a madman," the Doctor corrected, grinning. "Are we seriously in 1330 B.C.E.?" I ask breathlessly. My sanity was officially gone. We landed in some sort of Egyptian marketplace. Ancient Egyptians ran around the marketplace, chatting with others. Some wore kohl around their eyes, elaborate wigs and dresses, and they looked exactly like they did in the textbooks. "It's a great year. 1330 exactly. King Tutankhamen is about 12 right now, and he's the current pharaoh of the 18th dynasty," the Doctor said, grinning at me. He was so eccentric, and that was the best word that I could use to describe the alien holding my hand. "Why are we here?" I ask. "Lizzie, keep up!" He teased. "I got a message on the psychic paper telling me to meet up with King Tut," he says. I nearly choked on air. "We're meeting King Tut?" I ask, like I would have asked to meet my favorite celebrity. "Yeah, he's a great guy," the Doctor said, like they were old friends, and I wouldn't be surprised if they actually were. "What's psychic paper?" I ask. "Psychic paper," he says, taking out a wallet, and when he opened it up, it showed a piece of white paper, which read: "DOCTOR, THERE IS SOMETHING THAT YOU MUST SEE! YOU MUST BE HERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! PLEASE COME" The paper flashed the King's signature. "That's in English. How does he know English?" I ask. "Ah, gift of the TARDIS. Every time you travel in time, timey-wimey stuff gets on you. The TARDIS is allowing you to read heiroglyphics in English. Isn't that great?" The Doctor asked, grinning. "No! That's disguting! What if I don't want timey-wimey stuff in my head?" I ask. "Look on the bright side of this, Lizzie! Now you don't ever have to take any foreign language classes!" He said. I frowned. "So, if I'm speaking English, then what are they hearing?" I ask. "You're not speaking English to them, you're speaking their language," the Doctor explained. "I'm speaking a language that I don't even know," I say, confused. "Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey," the Doctor says, still grinning. "King Tut can send you messages on your psychic paper?" I asked blankly. "And I recieve them. The paper's psychic, and it'll show you whatever I want it to show you. Sometimes, it'll show you what you want it to see," the Doctor said, putting it away before I could glance at it again. "So where is the palace?" I ask, looking around. "Right... there," the Doctor said, pointing to a large building in the distance. It was magnificent and huge, and I would never be able to picture a structure so magnificent like that to become the ruins it was today. "What do you think King Tut wants?" I ask. "Oh, I dunno," the Doctor says, shrugging. "It's the dawn before everything was invented. If he wants his alien friend to come and visit, it's got to be pretty amazing," the Doctor says as we walk through stands and tables, full of merchants selling jewelry, makeup, and perfumes. They had shells, bottles, and beads everywhere. It was amazing, and I was still doubting if any of this was real. "Really? Are you the pest controller of the universe?" I ask. "If you like. I just go around, explore, try not to get into any trouble, which I'm not very good at," he says, picking a weird trinket off of a table as he set it back down. "This stuff is amazing," I say, stopping at a stand which included perfume, some jewelry, and some rocks. "This stuff has been gone for centuries, but here it is, right in front of me," I say, picking up a blue necklace from the table. It was a beaded necklace, and it was thin, with a blue animal statue hanging onto the bottom. "It's time travel. It's just simple," the Doctor says, shrugging. I put the necklace back down, but the Doctor stopped me. "What?" I ask, looking at the necklace again. "Really? Don't you want it? Like, a souviner that you travelled in time?" He asks. "No," I say, looking at the necklace. It was primitive, but pretty. And blue is my favorite color. I couldn't tell what the charm on the necklace was supposed to be. "That would just be too weird. A necklace from 1330 B.C.E. doesn't belong in 2013," I say, staring at the necklace. "Why would I tell anyone that I travelled in time? They would think that I was some sort of weirdo, if they even believed me, because they think that time travel isn't possible," I say. "Oh, you don't have to tell anybody. You can, but you shouldn't, and you don't need to, because if you're only from 2013, nobody would believe you. It's more for your self-esteem," the Doctor said, shrugging as he held the psychic paper out to the man who was operating the stand. He nodded, and the Doctor returned his attention to me. "Why did you just show him the psychic paper?" I ask. "Because the necklace is now yours. I paid for it, from the King, apparently," the Doctor said, squinting at the psychic paper. "So you just messed with his mind to buy a girl a necklace," I say. "When you put it like that, yes," the Doctor said, slipping the necklace over my head. I wanted to take it off, but I would probably 'drop' and 'lose' it on the TARDIS when I was going home. "Come on, Lizzie," he said, taking my hand again as we increased our speed to the palace. ---- The palace was amazing. We walked inside, the Doctor showing off the psychic paper to everyone he saw. We got inside easily, and we were greeted by an amazingly huge hallway. Heiroglyphics of gods and creatures lined the walls elegantly, and at the far end of the hallway was an occupied throne. I grinned and so did the Doctor, who was staring at me. We slowly walked down the long hallway and into the large throne room. The throne room was more beautiful than the hallway, and it was all so breathtaking. The throne room was shaped like a dome, and up against the back wall was a golden throne. It was difficult to believe, but that was King Tut sitting in the golden throne. "Oh my God," I said aloud, and then noticed that the Doctor was bowing. He elbowed me in the ribs, and I bowed, too. We stood back up, and the King was beaming at us. "Doctor! I'm so glad that you could make it!" The King exclaimed, grinning. "Who's this lovely young lady that you've brought with you?" He asks. "This is Lizzie," the Doctor says at the same time I say "Elizabeth." "Uh, my name is Elizabeth," I say, bowing again. "No, it's not. It's Lizzie. So, Sir Tut, are you in need of my assistance?" The Doctor asked. I rolled my eyes, annoyed, but the Doctor didn't notice, and he probably wouldn't care. "Oh, no, Doctor. We don't need your help. I just wanted to invite you here, because I thought that you would find this interesting," King Tut said, grinning. It was funny, because he was just a kid. I remember being twelve years old, and I would have never been responsible enough to be a king. "We don't require your assistance anymore. We've been blessed by the gods," he said, smiling a calm smile. The Doctor and I exchanged looks. I thought he would be laughing, but he wasn't. Not even a sly smile. Instead, he raised an eyebrow. "Blessed by the gods?" The Doctor echoed. "Yes. We've been blessed. The gods have answered our prayers, and now, my kingdom can conquer anyone that stands in its way. We could live on forever, with the gift of the gods," King Tut says, still smiling. He was so calm, it was creepy. "Is this 'gift' what you invited me to see?" The Doctor asked, his eyebrow still raised. "Yes, it is," the King said. "All right. So, where is this miracle?" The Doctor asked, looking around the room. "Come with me. I'll show you," the King said, standing up from his throne, and began walking down another long hallway, with me and the Doctor behind him. ---- The hallway was just as long as the first hallway was, but it wasn't as narrow. Sculptors making statues and artists painting heiroglyphics were surrounding us. People were crafting swords, spears, axes, and shields, and I glanced over to a nearby wall. I approached it, and saw a picture of some sort of guy with wings. The Doctor looked around to see where I wandered off to, and he came up behind me. He put his glasses back on, and stared at the picture. "Uh, what's this?" I ask him. "I... don't know. And I don't like not knowing," the Doctor admitted. "Oi! Tutankhamen! What's this, over here?" He shouted. The King joined us, and grinned. "Well, Doctor, that's it," he said, beaming at the picture. "What's it? That? Just a picture?" The Doctor asked, squinting at a picture. "Well, it's what we believe that they are. Only a few people have seen them before. It's what some artists imagine them to look like," the King said, shrugging. "So, tell me, how did you come across the 'gift?'" The Doctor asked. "Well, it was obviously fate, or destiny. Two of my men were exploring one of our caves a few months ago, and only one came back. He told us that the great god Thoth has sent us angels, and that they've made a deal with us. If we send four young citizens to the cave to be devoured by the angels once every thirty days, they will protect my kingdom from harm," the King explained. "Oh... God. This isn't good. This isn't good at all," the Doctor said, looking around the room quickly. I suddenly noticed that sculptors were creating statues of angels, painters were painting pictures of the angels, and people were engraving more pictures of angels into the walls. "What?" I ask, looking around. "What isn't good at all?" "Lizzie, please go back to the TARDIS. I'll be there in a while," the Doctor said, taking his glasses off and picking up a metal bar from off of the ground. I realized that it was an axe that someone had left on the ground. I was about to ask him why he had the axe, but I was too alarmed, because the look in his eyes was insanity. He immediatley turned around and started to strike the picture carved into the wall with the axe. "DOCTOR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I exclaimed. "EVERYBODY GET OUT! EVERYBODY, PLEASE LEAVE!" The Doctor exclaimed, continuing to tear apart all of the beautiful pictures on the wall with the axe. People screamed, and began to flee immediatley. Soon, the room was empty, except for me, the insane Doctor, and the King, who was staring wide-eyed at the Doctor. "DOCTOR! JUST STOP IT!" I exclaimed again, but he didn't stop. Oh my God, he really was insane. "LIZZIE, GET BACK TO THE TARDIS! PLEASE, JUST GO! IT'S NOT SAFE HERE!" He exclaimed. Finished with the walls, he began to tear the paintings with the axe. "No! I'm not leaving! Not until you tell me what's going on!" I protested, quieting down. "Lizzie, I'm so sorry. You really need to get back to the TARDIS, now," he commanded. "Why are you destroying all of this artwork?" I ask. "Because... the image of an Angel is an Angel!" He exclaimed. "What are you talking about? Of course it is?" I say, but it was more of a question. "An image of an Angel becomes an Angel. This is too dangerous, Lizzie, please, just go," he says, finished with the paintings, and smashing statues to pieces. "No, I said I'm not leaving! You're not making any sense!" I protested. "I'm staying here." The Doctor was finished with the statues, so he dropped the axe, and looked at me seriously. "Fine. But do everything I tell you, don't do anything stupid, don't get into trouble, and don't wander off," he says, sighing. He turned to the King. "Look, Your Majesty, the Angels aren't really trying to help you. They're not really from the gods, and we need to destroy them, as soon as possible," the Doctor says sternly. It was like the eccentric man that I met earlier had dissappeared, and was replaced with a strict figure of authority. "Doctor, don't you understand? It's a miracle! Think how much they will help our civilization!" King Tut exclaimed. "Help your civilization with death? They're only destorying your kingdom. Now, I need to come up with a clever plan that's going to save your kingdom and our lives," he says. "Doctor, those were just paintings and statues. Why did you have to destroy them?" I ask. "I told you, the image of an Angel becomes an Angel. Literally," the Doctor says. "Well, of course it does. Art is trying to capture the image of something," I say. "No, but those aren't real Angels. They're alien," the Doctor says. "Alien? Like you?" I ask. "Well, really, if you think about it, you're the alien to me, but in this case, yes. The Weeping Angels are aliens to both of us," the Doctor says darkly. "So, they're not from your world? Where are they from?" I ask. "Well, the universe is really quite small, and there are only two planets in the entire universe that can support life, Gallifrey and Earth," the Doctor says sarcastically. "So, really, how many other planets support life?" I ask. "Basically, all of them," the Doctor says. "So you have a time and space machine that can visit billions of other planets and any point in time?" I ask. "Yeah, pretty much," he says, shrugging. "And that's all you do in your entire lifetime?" I ask. "Yeah, pretty much," he says, shrugging and nodding again. "You're insane. What's a Weeping Angel?" I ask. "A Weeping Angel is why you need to get out of here. They're the only monsters to kill you nicely," he says. "Well, that's good. I love being killed nicely." "Have you ever seen a statue, then looked away, and it seems to have... moved?" "Almost everybody has. I'm pretty sure that there hasn't been a time that people have been thinking about statues that move. It's just a superstition or something." "But what if I told you that statues do really move?" The Doctor asked. "But they don't. They're only statues," I say. "Only when you're looking. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can only move when they're not being observed," the Doctor says. "Well, why would they do that?" I ask. "Because, it's the way that they hunt for food. You turn your back, you look way, if you even blink," the Doctor paused. "Then you're dead. They're fast, incredibly fast. They're quantum-locked life forms," he says. "That's horrifying," I say. "This isn't a joke, Lizzie. That's why you need to go back into the TARDIS: if you even blink, you're dead. If the Angels get you, and they touch you, you're dead. One touch from a Weeping Angel, and they'll send you back in time. They'll let you live to death. But they feed off of that time energy, and that's how they hunt," the Doctor says. I glanced over at the King, who had been silent the entire time. He was nearby, and he was listening to our conversation, wide-eyed. "I said I'm staying," I say seriously. The Doctor sighed. "All right, but don't get into trouble. Tutankhamen, when's the next time you're sending the four citizens to the Angels?" He asks. "Today is the twenty-ninth day. I was sending the message to you today, and I was hoping that you could see the ceremony tomorrow," King Tut says. "Okay. I'll go with them, then. I'm going to take care of the Angels, and nobody is going to die," the Doctor says, running a hand through his hair. "It's nearly sunset. Are you planning on staying overnight? We have extra homes nearby, for visitors, if you and your friend would like to stay there," the King says. "Sure. That'd be great," the Doctor says, grinning. "All right. You will be escorted to the houses immediatley," the King says. He called for two of his guards, and they escorted us out of the palace. ---- The house was nearby the palace. It was small, wooden, and primitive, just like everything that we saw earlier today. Inside, there was a small empty room, and through a small door, was an even smaller bedroom, with one makeshift bed, and a window. The guards wished us a goodnight, and they left. "So, Lizzie, I don't know much about you. Who are you?" The Doctor asked. "And I don't know much about you. Who are you?" I ask, sitting down on the bed. It wasn't a real bed, just straw and cloth inside of a wooden frame with feathers. "I told you who I am. I want to know who you are," the Doctor says. "I told you who I am, too. You're the one who's the alien," I say. "But you're the alien," the Doctor says, smiling as he sits next to me on the bed. "Okay, fine. I'm Elizabeth Jane Catherine Carter. I'm seventeen years old, I'm from the planet Earth, I was born in Manhattan, New York, I moved to London a few thousand years into the future, which was really yesterday, so I could live with my stepmom, my dad, and my stepbrother and stepsister, and I'm going to be starting my last year of high school before I go to college," I say. "I wasn't supposed to find you, and I wasn't supposed to have my life changed, and I'm not supposed to be here right now. Your turn." "I'm the Doctor. I travel all throughout time and space in a blue police box," the Doctor says, shrugging. "That's it?" I ask. The sun was setting, and the moon was starting to come out, along with the stars. "Yeah, pretty much," he repeats, looking out of the window. He pointed to the stars in the sky. "All of those are suns, with planets surrounding them. All of the millions and billions of stars in the sky, and in the billions of galaxies, there's planets surrounding those, and I still can explore some of those," he says. I stared at him, and tried to imagine a blue police box flying around in the night sky. "The universe is a huge place," I say. "Bigger than you can imagine. Think about what you know, and then imagine more. Anywhere in time and space. The adventures never stop," the Doctor says. "The last Time Lord and the last TARDIS in all of time and space. The adventures never stop," he repeats. "Lizzie, look up, and pick a star. Any star," he says. It was a strange request, but I picked the brightest star in the top right of the night sky. "Okay, that one," I say. "That's a beautiful solar system. I've been there before, you know. It has some very beautiful planets," he says. "Don't you ever get... lonely?" I ask. "The last Time Lord, the last TARDIS." "Well, I do have some friends, sometimes. Some leave, some have to go, some don't make it home," he says. "Very rarely, but some don't make it home." "Where are your friends from?" I ask. "I've always liked Earth. They're almost always from Earth. You know, I originally liked it because humans look so much like Gallifreyans," he says, laughing to himself a little. "Doctor, what happened to the Time Lords?" I ask, staring at the Doctor. A few minutes passed, and he still hadn't answered. He was completely silent. "You know, we should get some rest now," he finally says, resting his head on the straw pillow. "Okay," I say, unsure of what else to say. I had obviously asked a question that he didn't want to answer, so I should have just shut up. "I can take you back home tomorrow, assuming that the Angels don't kill us," he says. "I should be back, you should just wait here. It's too dangerous," he says. "No, I'm coming with you," I say. "Lizzie, please, just stay here," the Doctor says. "I'll be back before you know it." "No, Doctor. I just want to come with you. You are kind of my ride home," I say. "Fine, but you remember the rules. Just do as you're told, and stay with me the entire time," he says. "Just promise that you won't go without me, okay?" I ask. The Doctor sighed. "Okay. I promise. Now sleep," the Doctor instructed. I was tired, and it had been a huge day. I hadn't even realized that I was tired, or that I had woken up in the middle of the night when I found the TARDIS. I soon drifted off to sleep, thinking about my insane day. And tomorrow, it could possibly be even more insane. Category:Time and Space Category:Time and Space Chapter